Solar Park
Solar Park
Solar Park
H O S T E D BY
Alexandria University
a
Mechanical Department, Faculty of Technology and Education, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt
b
High Institute for Engineering and Technology, Sohag, Egypt
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, South Valley University, Qena 83521, Egypt
KEYWORDS Abstract By 2035, Egypt pursues to generate 22% of the total electricity from photovoltaic power
Grid-connected PV system; plants to meet the national spreading demand for electricity. The Egyptian government has imple-
Benban Solar Park; mented feed-in tariffs (FiT) support program to provide the economic incentives to invest in the PV
Feed-in tariffs (FiT); power plants. The present study is carried out to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of a large-
Techno-economic feasibility; scale grid-connected photovoltaic (LS GCPV) of the Benban Solar Park with a total capacity of
Payback period; 1600 MW AC producing annual electricity of 3.8 TWh. The characteristics of PV panels consider-
Greenhouse gas ing the meteorological data of Benban Solar Park are evaluated. Additionally, the reduction of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to constructing Benban Solar Park is assessed. As well, the
influences of annual operation and maintenance cost and the interest rate on the electricity cost
and the payback period are evaluated. The results indicate that the electricity cost is about 8.1
US¿/kWh with 10.1 years payback period, which is indeed economically feasible with an interest
rate of 12%. Furthermore, the Benban Solar Park will avoid annually almost 1.2 million tons of
greenhouse gas. Finally, based on the techno-economic analysis, the improvement directions for
the feasibility analysis based on agrivoltaic systems are proposed.
Ó 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria
University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Nomenclature
designed with diverse techniques and improvements to convert was not feasible compared with other systems while for high
solar energy into electricity [5–7]. Recently, optimizing the uti- price of electricity, the grid-independent systems with a low
lizing of renewable energy measures to fulfill the owner- battery cost were economically feasible.
specified reduction in energy consumption with minimizing Kazem et al. [15] investigated numerically the techno-
the desired upgrade costs is a crucial issue [8]. economic feasibility of 1 MW GCPV. The system cost is eco-
Several studies were achieved to study the economic feasi- nomically feasible for an annual system yield factor of
bility of the grid-connected photovoltaic (GCPV) systems, 1875.1 kW h/kW p with a capacity factor of 21.7%. Al-Badi
which introduce the guiding solution to the investors to invest et al. [16] analyzed the solar radiation, electrical energy pro-
in this area of energy. The environmental, technical as well as duction, and its cost for a 5 MW GCPV power plant for differ-
economic impacts are important to evaluate the cost-efficient ent locations around Oman. The results demonstrated that the
methodology of the GCPV power plant that is appropriate electricity cost was varied from 210 to 304 US$/MWh depend-
to each country for distinctive operating and geographic con- ing on the location. Oloya et al. [17] analyzed the techno-
ditions [9]. The essential costs attendant with the GCPV power economic implementation of a solar PV plant with a capacity
plant are the capital costs of individual components such as PV of 10 MW located in Soroti, Uganda. Based on the feed-in tar-
modules, structures, DC and AC cables, inverters, in addition iff (FiT) mechanism, the evaluated payback period, internal
to the operation and maintenance costs (OMC) [10]. The asso- rate of return, and profitability index were 9.28 years,
ciated benefits with this type of power plant are the export of 10.55%, and 1.51, respectively showing that it was economi-
electrical energy to the national grid electricity as well as its cally viable. As well, the 0.1087 US$/kWh cost of energy was
simplicity and comparatively low OMC. The optimal values in the range for analogous projects.
of the tilt and azimuth angles of photovoltaic panels to main- Ameur et al. [18] assessed the performance of various PV
tain the maximum system performance as well as to minimize types such as polycrystalline, monocrystalline, and amorphous
the cost of electricity were studied by Akdemir et al. [11]. silicon (Si) systems. The results revealed that the
Buonomano et al. [12] achieved a thermo-economic analysis polycrystalline-Si technology had superior performance com-
of a trigeneration system using the solar energy for cooling, pared with those for amorphous-Si and monocrystalline-Si
heating, and electrical energies requirements in Naples, Italy. technologies. In addition, the economic analysis indicated that
The results indicated that the payback period was around the polycrystalline-Si had the most effective cost with 0.10
12 years without any national funding. Agyekum [13] con- USD/kWh levelized cost of energy (LCOE). A two-stage
ducted a techno-economic study of a solar PV with a stochastic model to optimize the design and operation of resi-
20 MW capacity for different power plants i.e. PV-only and dential PV systems was employed by Zheng et al. [19]. The
PV with battery using the System Advisor Model (SAM). influences of essential factors such as FiT, profiles and levels
The results revealed that PV-only and PV with battery systems of tariff, and unit costs, were evaluated to supply stakeholders
integrated by a fixed-axis tracking technology (FT) produced with key findings.
the same annual energy of 31 GWh. Al-saqlawi et al. [14] pre- Celik [20] designed a 300 kW GCPV power system and
sented a mathematical model describing the techno-economic assessed its techno-economic feasibility in Ankara, Turkey.
characteristics for four systems i.e., solar panel DC, grid- The results indicated that the cost of electricity with battery
connected sub-system, economic sub-system, and grid- storage systems was 3–4 times greater than that of the GCPV;
independent sub-system. The implementation was achieved moreover, it was reduced by lowering the taxes and increasing
over 20 years. The results indicated that the GCPV system government subsidies. Zubair et al. [21] estimated the photo-
Techno-economic feasibility analysis 12595
voltaic (PV) capabilities in an urban environment based on the Egypt. In the present study, the influences of the interest rate
optimization of the PV placement distance and the cooling on the cost of electricity production and the payback period
load of buildings provided by PV modules. The results showed are evaluated. In addition, reducing the GHG emissions due
that the net present value (NPV) of the system for a small cool- to the construction of the Benban Solar Park compared with
ing load was 41,250 USD with the real and nominal values of that of the fossil fuel power plant are assessed. Finally, a tech-
LCOE of 2.99 and 4.31 cents USD/kWh, respectively. In addi- nical assessment that evaluates the characteristics of PV panels
tion, the real value of the LCOE of the project was 80% lower considering the meteorological data of Benban Solar Park is
than the cost of energy from the national grid. Furthermore, introduced to propose the available improvement of the sys-
the capital cost and the payback period of the project with tem’s economic feasibility based on the agrivoltaic system.
an installed capacity of 14.7 kW were 17,916 USD and
4.1 years, respectively. 2. Current situation of energy sector in Egypt
Castillo-Calzadilla et al. [22] studied the advantages and
disadvantages, technical parameters, quality of electrical sup- Up-to-date, the electric power generation in Egypt depends
ply, reliability, and economic and environmental issues of essentially on non-renewable energy resources, particularly
three DC microgrids to the service building. The results oil and natural gas, which contribute by about 95% of the
showed that for the best case, the accuracy of the measure- total energy demand. The period next to 2011, the Arab
ments and the average voltage applied to the load were about Republic of Egypt faced a critical economical restriction due
99.45%, and 24.54 V, respectively. In addition, the developed to the shortage of fuel supply to the thermal power plants.
systems showed a potential of greenhouse gas (GHG) recovery The developments in Egypt of the power plants infrastructure
of almost 35.05 tCO2/year, with 7 years and 3 years return are approached such as constructing three combined power
investment for the renewable-based microgrid and traditional plants with 14,400 MW total capacity. The Arab Republic of
microgrid, respectively. Laajimi and Go [23] studied the Egypt has limited reserves from non-renewable sources due
techno-economic performance of a LS GCPV with a capacity to the growing demand and the high extraction cost. There-
of 30 MW employing an energy storage system. Conducting fore, Egypt confronts difficulty in covering its electricity
the economic analysis for two states, Perak and Pahang demands from these resources. The balance between the petro-
showed the same costs for the same project scales and the leum production and the energy consumption can be achieved
large-scale system with energy storage was profitable. Edoo when the economic difficulties facing the oil and gas sector are
and King [24] assessed the economics of a solar PV power managed. So, a renewable resource such as solar energy is the
plant with battery (PVB) using a System Advisor Model best possible solution for the sustainable energy supply. Addi-
(SAM). The influences of inverter loading ratio (ILR), battery tionally, the solar photovoltaic power generation system,
size, and tracking type on LCOE were implemented. The among technologies of renewable energy, is one of the poten-
results revealed that the tracking increased the clipping losses tial choices to fulfill the growing nation’s electricity demand.
and its benefits on reducing the LCOE decreased as the ILR Solar energy that is a clean resource of energy has magnificent
increased. As well, the sensitivity analyses indicated that the potential principally in high solar irradiation regions like
battery costs had a significant influence on the LCOE. Egypt.
Edalati et al. [25] studied experimentally and theoretically
the performance of major parts of a 10 MW GCPV system.
3. Economic support mechanisms in Egypt
The technical and economic feasibility of the PV power plant
and the profit expectations for different cities were investi-
gated. The results showed that the LCOE was equal 19.92 There is a set of mechanisms for establishing renewable energy
and 38.38 US!kWh in the southeastern and northern parts, projects in Egypt for demand and production, as shown in
respectively. Further, the high selling electricity prices achieved Fig. 1, including the following:
the lowest value of LCOE. Khalid and Junaidi [26] evaluated
the feasibility of 10 MW PV power plant for eight locations Commercial projects: the establishment of plants to pro-
in Pakistan. The results demonstrated that the examined plant duce electricity from the solar PV power systems with sup-
reduced the yearly production of carbon dioxide (CO2) by plying the electricity directly to the consumers.
17,938 tons. Moreover, using one-axis tracking system gener- Competitive tenders: Egyptian Electricity Transmission
ated the cheapest electricity at Quetta. While, the high initial Company will put the projects in the public tenders between
cost led to the infeasibility of the system even for high solar the qualified investors in the system of building, ownership
irradiance regions. Finally, the summary of previous economic and operation or build-own-operate (BOO) and sign a con-
studies of solar PV power systems including the location, tract to purchase the electricity produced for 20 years.
capacity, electricity cost, and payback period is presented in Net metering: the solar PV projects are implemented by the
Table 1. private sector to feed its loads connected to the national
It is noticed from the above discussion that there is a lack of grid electricity with a capacity of 20 MW, with a compar-
economic studies for large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic ison between the electricity consumed from the national
(LS GCPV). Therefore, the aim of the current study is to assess grid and electricity produced from PV power plant.
the economic feasibility of LS GCPV for Benban Solar Park A feed-in tariffs (FiT): a mechanism to encourage electricity
with a 1600 MW power capacity, subdivided into 32 sub- production from solar PV power systems. In this system,
systems. This paper utilizes the real collected field data taking the electricity companies buy the electricity from their pro-
into consideration the national economic situation of power ducers at a pre-announced price that achieves an attractive
generation and its strategies to study the technical-economic return on investment through a long-term energy purchase
feasibility of a LS GCPV of the Benban Solar Park in Aswan, agreement for the project lifetime [19,29,30]. These agree-
12596
Table 1 Summary of previous economic studies of various solar photovoltaic power systems.
Ref. Year Study Location System Capacity Lifetime payback Tracker Cost of Main findings
(years) period system electricity
(years) (US$/
kWh)
[12] 2014 Thermo- Naples, Italy Dependes on the 800 kW One- 15 N.A Variable The economic system performance was enhanced by increasing
economic operation year the solar radiation capacity.The system performance was low
study in winter and high in summer.The capital cost of the system is
nearly 3.6 M$, maintaining 14 years of simple pay back.
[13] 2021 Thermo- Three locations of PV-only and PV- 20 MW 25 N.A single- 0.067 – The systems maintained a capacity factor between 16% and
economic Wa, Sunyani, and battery axis and 0.076 18%.All locations achieved negative NPV.The sensitivity analy-
Nsawam in Ghana double- sis indicated that using a tracking system, had a considerable
axis influence on techno-economic system performance.
[14] 2018 Techno- Muscat, Oman Solar panel, grid- N.A 20 10 Employed N.A The grid-independent system was economics for high battery
economic independent, grid- cost and low electricity prices.Operating PV with maximum effi-
connected, economic ciency had a little effect on the system cost.Increasing the size of
system the grid-independent system made it infeasible.
[15] 2017 Techno- Adam, Oman Grid-connected 1 MW 25 10 Employed 0.2258 The optimum inverter size was 800 kW.The system was feasible
economic for the operating conditions of the examined city.
[16] 2011 Economic 25 locations in Grid-connected 5 MW 25 N.A Constant 0.21 – The capacity factor of the solar plant varied between 20% and
Oman tilt angle 0.304 14%.The plant at the best location was competitive to the diesel
plant.
[17] 2021 Techno- Soroti City, grid-connected 10 MW 20 9.28 Fixed tilt 0.1087 The estimated payback period, profitability index, and internal
economic Uganda angle of rate of return indicated the economic viability.The capacity fac-
10° tor of the installation was 19.07%.
[20] 2006 Techno- Ankara, Turkey Grid-connected 300 kW 25 N.A Constant 0.44 The battery cost increased the cost of PV system considerably.
economic tilt angle
of 40o
[23] 2021 Techno- Pahang and Perak, Grid-connected 30 MW 25 5.42 N.A 0.057 The project had the cheapest electricity with US$/kWh while
economic Malaysia. increasing the energy storage output resulted in the increase of
LCOE over 0.11 US$/kWh.
[24] 2021 Techno- Solitude, Grid-connected 15 MW 20 N.A Fixed and 0.188 The availability of the solar PV power plant with battery to
economic Mauritius one axis overcome the evening peak was high.
[25] 2016 Techno- Iran Grid-connected 10 MW 20 Dependent Employed 0.199 – Discount rate in Iran was 20%/year, causing LCOE for GCPV
economic on annual 0.384 plants was greater than the average electricity price.
and Benban-4 which are constructed by MERE. Benban Solar 50 MW AC sub-system are shown in Table 3. The sub-
Park, as a part of the Egyptian FiT program, is the most system contains approximately 192,510 PV modules and 24
immense national energy project in renewable resources. A inverters to convert the direct current (DC) output of the solar
25-years contract is signed with the MERE to purchase the photovoltaic modules into alternative current (AC) that is con-
electricity by 14.34 US¿/kWh [34]. nected to the national grid electricity transmission system.
Fig. 6 shows a recent satellite photo of the Benban Solar Table 4 presents the specifications of the utilized inverters
Park representing the geographical locations such as latitudes i.e., Growatt CP2000 Station-S and Growatt CP2520
and longitudes. Each sub-system with a capacity of 50 MW Station-S. All PV modules are connected to tracking systems
AC that is constructed on an area of 1600*600 m2 is divided to maximize the electrical power generation during the diurnal
into 12 blocks; each one contains a number of trackers and hours.
two models of inverter i.e., Growatt CP2000 Station-S and Fig. 7 shows the schematic diagram of the tracker system in
Growatt CP2520 Station-S. The main components for each a 50 MW sub-system that is divided into three strings, where
each one contains 31 PV modules connected in series. Then, ity in the system productivity. These models are utilized to
the combiner collects the direct current and the voltage output decide the required procedures for ensuring the market flexibil-
from the strings. The designed inverters have specified features ity and the continuous technological development to overcome
to maintain the required adaption to use in the Benban Solar any potential risk coming from the climate-driven changes in
Park such as automatic synchronization, high conversion effi- the techno-economic feasibility of the system [36]. In the pre-
ciency, anti-islanding protection, and maximum power point sent study, the impact of the climate variables on the produc-
tracker. In the present project, the power point tracker effi- tivity of PVs in the Benban Solar Park is limited during the
ciency that is defined as the ratio between the ideal power sup- project lifetime so it will be ignored [37].
ply to the inverter and the power converted by the inverter is Fig. 8 shows the average values of the solar irradiation for
maximized. different months during 2021. The results indicate that June
and July recorded the highest solar irradiation during the year
6. Technical evaluation with an average value of about 272 kWh/m2 while January and
December record the average lowest values of solar irradia-
6.1. Meteorological data of Benban solar Park tion, which are 161 kWh/m2 and 151 kWh/m2, respectively.
The distributions of the average ambient temperature, relative
humidity, and wind speed are illustrated in Fig. 9. The average
The economic feasibility study of the Benban Solar Park
highest values of ambient air temperature during June, July,
requires some necessary parameters such as the total solar irra-
and August are 36.1, 36.2, and 35.8 °C, respectively. While
diation, ambient temperature, and wind velocity. Over the past
the average lowest values are maintained during January,
few decades, the climate change impacts on the energy systems
February, and December are 16.5, 18.9, and 18.2 °C, respec-
have increased substantially [35]. The climate modeling is a
tively. On the other side, the average lowest value of the rela-
valuable tool for investigating the future climate changes such
tive humidity obtained during June equals 17.7% while the
as environmental temperature, solar intensity, and wind veloc-
12600 A.S.A. Mohamed, H.M. Maghrabie
Fig. 8 Average solar irradiation in Benban Solar Park for different months during 2021.
Fig. 9 Average values of ambient temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed in Benban Solar Park for different months during
2021.
8. Economic results
i
SFF ¼ ð3Þ
½ð1 þ iÞn 1 Table 6 Initial costs of main components for each 50 MW
sub-system.
S ¼ 0:15ðPÞ ð4Þ Sections Cost US$ Cost ratio
up to 80 °C [6]. So the effect of temperature on the PV modules the AOMC is presented as a percentage of the fixed annual
is taken into consideration to make the results more responsi- cost. It is observed that increasing the AOMC from 2 to
ble [46,47]. Therefore, the real cost of the electricity generation 20% increases the cost of electricity production and the pay-
is calculated based on the average output power of each sub- back period by 17.8 and 30.4%, respectively.
system of 50 MW AC while the designed electrical capacity
of the project is 63.5 MW DC. 8.2. Solar PV power and environment
The present study is conducted to evaluate the economic
analysis of the solar GCPV power system to supply electricity The LS GCPV of Benban Solar Park depends on utilizing the
to the national grid under a number of assumptions such as the PV modules that have zero GHG emissions. The electric power
annual average output power during the project lifetime is con- generated by the solar PV power system can replace a part of
stant and it equals 50 MW AC for each sub-system. In addi- electric power generated by the thermal power plants using
tion, the AOMC is constant at 2% of the fixed annual cost fossil fuels; therefore, the solar renewable energy will reduce
[14,48], and the cost of electricity is based on variable interest the CO2 emissions [49,50]. The Benban Solar Park with a
rate in the range of 1% i 14% depending on the national capacity of 1600 MW will contribute significantly to preserving
economic stability. the environment by avoiding 1.2 million tons of GHG emis-
There are a number of factors affect the interest rate during sions annually, which is equivalent to 694,000 cars off the road
the project lifetime such as political short-term gain, alterna- or planting 813,000 trees each year [31].
tive investments, exchange rate, risks of investment, taxes, con-
sumer confidence, and type of loan program. So, through the 9. Policies for economic improvements of GCPV system
present economic study the interest rate ranges from 1 to
14% while according to a number of financial variables, the
interest rate in Egypt is around 12%. Fig. 11 shows the effect In the near future, the cost of electricity production of GCPV
of the interest rate on the electricity cost. It can be concluded system will be reduced significantly ensuring its economic fea-
that the cost per kilowatt-hour increases linearly with increas- sibility through several measures such as the advancement in
ing the interest rate. Moreover, increasing the interest rate the material and technology of photovoltaic and trackers,
from 1 to 14% increases the electricity cost drastically and increasing the electrical efficiency, optimizing the system tech-
steadily by almost two times and a half. nology, growing the mass production, reducing the costs of
The influence of the interest rate on the payback period is operation and maintenance. However, there are a number of
represented in Fig. 12. It is noticed that increasing the interest aspects that have a considerable influence on the economic fea-
rate up to 7% has a slight effect on the payback period by an sibility of the GCPV system, that are not related to the PV
increment of 30% while further increasing the interest rate up modules themselves such as raw material prices, financial cost,
to 14% increased the payback period significantly by almost taxes cost, and transportation cost, etc.
80%. Moreover, it can be noticed that the actual cost of elec-
tricity production from the Benban sub-system equals 8.1 US¿/ 9.1. Improvement based on agrivoltaic system
kWh at an interest rate of 12%. As the MERE signed a con-
tract to purchase the electricity generated from the project Previous research [37] clarified the effect of the surface temper-
by 14.34 US¿/kWh during the project lifetime, the project is ature of the solar PV panel on the electrical energy output. The
expected to recover its expenses within 10 years. Furthermore, working conditions of the previous study [6] which aimed to
Fig. 13 presents the impact of AOMC on the payback period improve the performance of solar panels using cooling water
and the cost of electricity production. In the present study, are similar to the Benban solar Park. This study showed that
utilizing of water cooling for solar panels leads to an increase and consequently reduces the operating and maintenance
in the electrical energy output by 8.2%. This attributed to costs. So, the feasibility analysis for generating electricity from
maximizing the benefit when cultivating the vast land area PV modules states that using the available territory for agricul-
on which the station is built, and using the irrigation water tural purposes is a sustainable solution for increasing the
to cool the PV panels in the first, and then for the irrigation power generated from the Benban Solar Park. Increasing the
process. Thus, a double advantage can be achieved; first, an production of electricity in addition to the annual return from
increase in the electrical energy output by 8.2% in the summer agriculture makes the projects of producing electricity from the
months where the panel surface temperature is high. Second, Benban solar Park have a promising future.
the agricultural crops as an economic value, as the solar panels
are located at a height of 1.5 m from the surface of the earth. 10. Concluding remarks
The PV solar panels are installed above the existing cultivated
areas while the maintained spaces among rows of PV modules Recently, the utilization of solar energy for GCPV power
provide the necessary solar radiation for crops. plants has gained popularity all over the world to meet the
Applying water cooling technology from April to Septem- requirements of drastically increasing the population and
ber months on the current plant leads to increasing the electric- industrialization instead of depleting the non-renewable
ity production of the plant by almost 4.49*103 megawatt-hours resources of fossil fuels. It is a major issue to study the accep-
annually, which saves almost 646.5*103 dollars annually. Cool- tance economic level of these power plants as well as to evalu-
ing the solar panels based on water that is available from ate the proper financing indicators, viability, feasibility, and
nearby irrigation systems makes the maintenance process interest rate involved with the construction of GCPV power
easier and inexpensive, as water cleans and cools the panels plants. In the current study, the techno-economic feasibility
12606 A.S.A. Mohamed, H.M. Maghrabie
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